Butler named NE10 Defensive Player of the Week for the first time
Faley collects third NE10 Rookie of the Week selection
NE10 Women's Lacrosse Weekly Report
Butler earns NE10 Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time this season (PHOTO BY Jon Bourque) |
EASTON, Mass. (May 3, 2022) – Two members of the Northeast-10 Conference regular season champion women's lacrosse program have collected NE10 weekly honors the league announced.
Junior defender Victoria Butler has been named the NE10 Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career, while freshman goalkeeper Sarah Faley has earned NE10 Rookie of the Week accolades for the third time this spring. Butler is the second from Stonehill to earn NE10 Defensive Player of the Week honors, joining senior preseason All-American Emma Sullivan who has collected the honors five times this season, giving the Skyhawks six of the ten Defensive Player of the Week selections for the spring overall.
Butler and Faley led Stonehill's defensive effort in a 2-0 week to cap the regular season as the Skyhawks allowed 9.5 goals per game on 26.5 shots per contest, while forcing 10.5 turnovers and averaging 16.0 draw controls per game for the week.
Butler totaled seven ground balls, six draw controls and three caused turnovers for the, while chipping in three goals on transition. She contributed four ground balls, five draw controls and a caused turnover, while chipping in a goal in Wednesday's 16-6 win over Southern New Hampshire University. She totaled three ground balls, a draw control and two caused turnovers in Friday's 16-13 win over Saint Anselm College, ranked No. 23 in the IWLCA poll, chipping in two goals.
Butler |
Faley |
Faley posted a 9.50 goals against average and .472 save percentage with 8.5 saves per game while playing all 120 of Stonehill's minutes in goal for the week. She started the week with nine saves in Wednesday's 16-6 win over Southern N.H., and then recorded eight stops in Friday afternoon's 16-13 win over No. 23 Saint Anselm.
Butler has started all 16 games for Stonehill during her junior season and ranks second on the team with 62 draw controls (13th NE10) and 33 ground balls (11th), with her 17 caused turnovers ranking third on the team. She is a key cog in a Skyhawks defensive unit that ranks fourth in the NE10, allowing 10.87 goals per game, 10.87 caused turnovers per game and collecting 18.3 ground balls per game, while averaging an NE10-best 17.87 draw controls per game (4th nationally). Butler has also stepped into the attack to record 14 points on 11 goals and three assists – tops among Skyhawk defenders. Her 62 draws rank seventh on Stonehill's all-time single season list.
Butler has started 26 of 30 career games played over her three seasons at Stonehill. She has totaled 19 goals and three assists for 22 points, while adding 53 ground balls, 70 draw controls and 30 caused turnovers. She netted a career-high three goals in the Skyhawks 15-13 comeback win at then No. 12 Pace University on April 13, and recorded a career-best nine draws in wins over then No. 2 Le Moyne College (3/19) and Southern Connecticut State University (4/20), collecting a career-best six ground balls at Lynn University (3/7) and causing a career-high three turnovers against Concordia University-St. Paul (3/9) and Southern Connecticut State. Butler has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll for her efforts in the classroom.
Faley earns NE10 Rookie of the Week honors for the third time (PHOTO BY Jon Bourque) |
Faley, who also earned NE10 Rookie of the Week honors back-to-back weeks on March 21 and 28, has started 15 of Stonehill's 16 games in goal in her first collegiate season. She has played 873:51 of the Skyhawks 963:46 in the goal this season and ranks fourth among NE10 leaders with her 10.78 goals against average, ranking sixth with a .437 save percentage and 7.60 saves per game. Faley has also chipped in 17 ground balls and three caused turnovers for the season.
Faley, named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll after her first college semester, has registered double-digit saves in five games this spring. She posted a season-high 12 in Stonehill's 14-13 win at then No. 14 Bentley University on March 26 after reaching double-figures for the first time with 11 stops in the 17-14 win over No. 2 Le Moyne.
Stonehill (14-2, 12-1 NE10), ranked No. 2 in the first two NCAA Division II East Regional rankings of the season, moved up one spot to No. 8 in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II poll, where it is also ranked in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division II poll for a second-straight week. The Skyhawks earned a share of their NE10 record 12th regular season championship and has clinched the top seed for this week's NE10 Tournament. Stonehill opens postseason play tomorrow night, when it hosts eighth-seeded and No. 22-ranked University of New Haven for a quarterfinal round matchup at W.B. Mason Stadium at 7p.m.
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